Review: Moon Coven ‘Sun King’

Another month and another release from the seemingly bottomless well of talent unearthed by Ripple Music as next up is Moon Coven. Having established themselves on the back of several independently released EPs and two albums (2014’s Animal Kingdom debut and the self-titled follow-up in 2016) for Swedish doom label Transubstans, the heavy riffing psyche stoners made the jump to Ripple Music for their third full-length Slumber Wood in 2021. The album, like their past output, was crammed full of fuzzy, heavy slabs of doom interlaced with the punch and blissed-out melodies that are born from hazy jam sessions. Whilst the band didn’t reinvent the wheel, it pointed to a future that saw them rising above the average stock that can often populate the genre by drawing favourable comparisons to the likes of Monolord and Pallbearer.

Having slimmed their ranks to a more robust four-piece, their latest album, Sun King, sees the band re-focus and refine their style, embracing a more wide-reaching sound that is littered with influences that take note of peers such as Acid King along with embracing the psychedelic and progressive works of Pink Floyd. Aiming to ensure the songwriting process remained fun and creatively inspiring, the band recorded the album completely in-house, giving them the time and space to explore ideas to their full, with no pressure or oversight. The result is nine tracks and the most definitive statement the band have made to date.

From the off, the album sounds less murky as Wicked Words In Gold They Wrote teases from the speaker with its dancing blues-rich guitar run and explodes in with a comparatively up tempo number that embraces the stoner side of their arsenal. David Regn Leban’s vocals soar, multi-layered at times over the proceedings as the band seek to stamp out a statement of intent. In between the crash of Fredrik Dahlqvist’s drums which drive the track ever onward, the guitars of Leban and Axel Ganhammer trade blows, solos and grooves that seem born from a telepathic bond and as for the bass of Pontus Ekberg? We’ll get to that.

Seeing Stone sets off at a canter proving that the band might be exploring a greater set of influences, but they retain the ability to anchor the tracks with robust chops that return the listener to a central focus time and time again. This formula allows the band to careen off on little sidebars that can be led by a solo or frantic drum fill. Stretching the dynamics to allow the band to showcase their jam style, there are times when Seeing Stone positively bounces with glee and if nothing else, the band themselves sound like they are having the best time letting loose.

The title track, Sun King, sees this cascading, hard-hitting style get a little gloomier and the sludgy doom riffs feel turned up a notch. Leban’s vocals, which echo with Black Sabbath influences but never quite stray into Pallbearer’s Brett Campbell towering delivery, the track also drops out of the forceful riffing for a high-pitched solo while the sound is kept taught by the bass.

a terrifying trip into fully-fledged stoner doom territory…

Moon Coven, for all their positive, also have one of the filthiest bass sounds courtesy of Ekberg I have heard in some time, which the middle of the title track, as well as on The Yawning Wild, highlights, whilst Dahlqvist hammers his kit for the intro, the grimy snaking bass line slithers in like the seediest cat in the club making his way to the bar. It is a thing of beauty to these ears and that low-end buzz never lets up throughout the album, no matter how many riffs and tricks they throw over the top.

The band have not entirely stepped away from the grinding doom and Behold The Serpent is the best example of them retaining the funeral doom-like mournfulness of their earlier material. Lumbering passages of slow-paced chords and ringing notes allow the vocals to create a dramatic atmosphere and the maelstrom of instruments merely highlights this. Rather than beat the refrain into the ground, they morph into a delicious psychedelic instrumental break to round off the number.

As the band hit the back end of the album, Death Shine Light On Life is a delicately progressive, but short instrumental propelled by relentless high-hat work before letting that thick bass noodle calmly as it sets up the smash of The Lost Colour.

Ending on one of the stronger compositions, the last track on the album is a terrifying trip into fully-fledged stoner doom territory. Probably saving the best example of what Moon Coven can do until this sub-six-minute piece combines the harder edge of the industrial strength riffing with the imposing doom atmosphere and imperious confidence of this newly refreshed band. Never setting on any one style too long, the band throw up plenty of tricks to keep the listener guessing but are never far from a breakaway moment of head-banging glory.

For the most part, Sun King is a thoroughly enjoyable album. The band are clearly in their groove now they’re on to album number four, and the personnel changes have not slowed them one bit, in fact, they seem to have profited from this with resounding success. If there is a ‘but’ I feel I need to add to this, it is that over the course of the album, there are times when it feels that the band are so content with their newfound approach it hinders their ability to create a separate identity for all the songs. There is absolutely nothing wrong with tracks like Below The Black Crow and Guilded Apple for example, the latter displaying a clear ‘90s alternative scene influence, but sometimes over the forty-five minutes, they lack that killer hook and it is hard to distinguish one from another.

This is a fairly churlish complaint though as Sun King delivers riffs, emotion and Moon Coven are clearly relishing their new lease of life.

Label: Ripple Music
Band Links: Facebook | Bandcamp | Spotify | Instagram

Scribed by: Mark Hunt-Bryden